Anyone content with using large format camera but can only scan the negatives due to their enlarger only being 120?

kingbuzzie · Apr 17, 2024

I have a very nice example of a durst 606 that I disassembled and cleaned to new condition. It meets all my needs and is a tank! BUT... I keep feeling the pull to larger format photography. It's an relatively steep entry cost (the camera of course, lens(s), equipment to develop the larger format at home). I won't be getting a larger enlarger as I just do not have the room in my small utility room setup. Is anyone here happy with large format knowing all they can do is scan them?

koraks · Apr 17, 2024

Not me.
But 6x9cm contact prints can be very nice indeed.

Rick A · Apr 17, 2024

You do know that 6x9cm is still 120 film, unless you are using a 6x9 sheet film camera. I'm not familiar with your enlarger, but does it only go up to 6x6cm? I used a Beseler 23C series enlarger in a bathroom/DR years ago, a bit cramped but doable.

kingbuzzie · Apr 17, 2024

Rick A said:
You do know that 6x9cm is still 120 film, unless you are using a 6x9 sheet film camera. I'm not familiar with your enlarger, but does it only go up to 6x6cm? I used a Beseler 23C series enlarger in a bathroom/DR years ago, a bit cramped but doable.

Sorry edited to reflect any large format.

DWThomas · Apr 17, 2024

Well 95+% of my work winds up on the web, so scanning of one sort or another is the norm. But my biggest large format efforts are 8x10 pinhole shots which work out quite nicely as contact prints. (And I doubt I would ever encumber myself with an 8x10 enlarger -- especially at my current age and decrepitude!)

I do scan 120 negs and 4x5 stuff and occasionally print from scans, though I do feel some guilt about doing so ("Cheating!")

GregY · Apr 17, 2024

"Is anyone here happy with large format knowing all they can do is scan them?"
Personally....no. I contacted printed 8x10" & 4x10" but settled on 5x7" and bought a Durst 138 enlarger.
Darkroom printing is my great pleasure & if i had limited space, i'd get an enlarger that would work for 6x9cm medium format.

Kino · Apr 17, 2024

kingbuzzie said:
I have a very nice example of a durst 606 that I disassembled and cleaned to new condition. It meets all my needs and is a tank! BUT... I keep feeling the pull to larger format photography. It's an relatively steep entry cost (the camera of course, lens(s), equipment to develop the larger format at home). I won't be getting a larger enlarger as I just do not have the room in my small utility room setup. Is anyone here happy with large format knowing all they can do is scan them?

No, I hate scanning negatives. I only do it if I have to, otherwise I can enlarge negatives up to 4x5, but the 5x7 and Whole Plate get contact printed in some fashion.

Don't forget all the Alt Processes; cyanotype, salt, gum and others. A contact printing frame and appropriate light source is quite easy to manage even in a small darkroom.

Marcelo Paniagua · Apr 17, 2024

Well, my Omega B8 does up to 6x9 and I do a lot of that (either sheet film or roll with both Horseman 980 and Mamiya Super 23). Results are pretty good from that format.

For my 4x5 I usually scan those and no, I'm don't feel limited by that. If I ever try 8x10 (already have some 300/400 lenses and a bunch of Aviphot that I can cut for 8x10) contact sheet will be quite nice so I don't see a 4x5-8x10 enlarger on my future.

kingbuzzie · Apr 17, 2024

Well there you go. I got a lot yes, no and maybes. Hah.

Donald Qualls · Apr 17, 2024

I love my Speed Graphic (4x5) and Graphic View II (same format), and the negatives they produce. Even though I haven't made a darkroom print in years, I'd be pretty unsatisfied if the option didn't exist to do so -- in my case, I have an Omega D2 with a Chromega 4x5 color head on it and a spare condenser head I can swap in when ultimate sharpness is needed. If I can ever afford an 8x10, contact printing will be the only way, though; no way I could get an 8x10 into my darkroom even if there was any chance of affording one (maybe if I built it in place...).

As for getting three answers to a yes or no question, welcome to Photrio! That's how it works here.

FWIW, some 4x5 enlargers aren't much bigger than a 6x9; my D2 with the Zone VI cold light head it had when I got it fit pretty well in a temporary darkroom setup in my larger bathroom -- baseboard on a kitchen cart between toilet and bathtub, developing trays on a board over the double sink and wash tray in the bathtub. A D2 has a fairly compact base board (20x20 inches, as I recall) and the cold light head I had actually sat down into a stripped-out condenser housing -- 16x20 from 4x5 with a 135 mm lens had the top of the cold light the same height as the column.

So, I'd say don't let your enlarger keep you from buying into 4x5 camera equipment. A 1 liter Paterson will develop 4x5, up four or six sheets with the right adapter, and 4x5 printed to 8x10 is incredible after you've been working in even 6x6; so much more detail! And you might just stumble into a screamer of a deal on a D series enlarger and realize it'll fit where your 606 stands.

Rick A · Apr 17, 2024

I have two 4x5 enlargers, one condenser head and one cold light head. I contact print 5x7 and 8x10 negatives using alt processes. I make Van Dyke Brown, Salt prints, kallitype, cyanotype, and carbon transfer's. I scan prints, not negatives.

Andrew O'Neill · Apr 17, 2024

My situation is similar to Rick A's. I have a 4x5 enlarger (in moth balls but planning to bring it out soon), and I used to have an 8x10 enlarger I converted from a copy camera, but only used it a few times as I fell in love.... madly in love.... with Alt printing. I contact print 4x5, 8x10, and 14x17. Roll film gets digitised so that I can print them as well in Alt. processes.
So, if you are just going to work with gelatin silver papers, you can contact, or even better, enlarge all your negs from 35 up to 4x5.

ic-racer · Apr 17, 2024

Anyone content with using large format camera but can only scan the negatives due to their enlarger only being 120?

Isn't a large format enlarger cheaper than a large format scanner and computer and RAID?
I guess I have never been in that situation where I couldn't print my large format images.

kingbuzzie · Apr 17, 2024

ic-racer said:
Isn't a large format enlarger cheaper than a large format scanner and computer and RAID?
I guess I have never been in that situation where I couldn't print my large format images.

I can't FIT a large format enlarger in my darkroom.

grahamp · Apr 17, 2024

I was gifted a 4x5 enlarger, then I acquired the 4x5 camera. The scanner able to handle up to 4x5 negatives came later. I still prefer to scan prints because that is the tangible final form for me.

With the 8x10 camera I am more inclined to do contact prints - I certainly cannot scan the negative. I only scan for the web.

I have the necessary parts to reversibly adapt my Beseler MXT to handle 8x10. Once I get it on the drop table I'll be able to do 16x20 prints if someone will spring for the paper...

Luckless · Apr 17, 2024

I got into film photography with scans as my only practical option, and even dove into 4x5 film with the second film camera I bought.

It doesn't get nearly as much use as I might like it to, but I greatly enjoy the images I get out of it.

But I've held onto the theory that there is nothing stopping me from revisiting any of my negatives over time. I've rescanned some of them after learning more, and have reprinted a handful from digital files, and I have a few contact prints kicking around somewhere.

I've been in the process of getting a reliable darkroom setup rolling, and I can go back to any negative I have. I didn't need to drop the cash all at once for a final singular kit and just one process. I've been building things out over time and finding ways to fit more into both my budget and space.

You don't need complex or fancy to explore and create. And the space and budget you have no doesn't have to be the final space and budget you work in.

With large format you easily have the option for contact printing for lovely results and getting to know a given negative. Nothing says you need to do lots of prints of every negative you take, or even that you need to come up with your final print of it any time soon. If you mostly scan your large format, you still have the option to find a space to use now and then to do special prints of your very favourite images.

I've also seen a few creative types doing large format prints by modifying the back of their large format camera to take negative carriers and a light box, and doing very large prints by projecting against a wall and developing in print drums made from large pipe sections.

If you're feeling really serious about any kind of film photography, there are ways to make it work.

Romanko · Apr 17, 2024

kingbuzzie said:
I keep feeling the pull to larger format photography.

You can try a medium format field camera. The workflow is virtually the same as with larger formats but you will be shooting 120 film. From technical perspective I don't see much point in scanning a large format negative.

nosmok · Apr 17, 2024

I am in the "scan only" camp with all my film cameras-- I don't have a darkroom and do all my developing in tanks in the kitchen, from 35mm (rarely these days) up to 8x10. In a moment of madness I bought a cheap 11x14 camera, and in that I shoot paper negatives only, since my ancient Epson 4990 scanner only handles up to 8x10. I print digitally because getting the ability to wet print at my home would cost in the mid 5 figures, what with plumbing and big enlargers, etc. I got really lucky and an Epson P800 sold as "untested" for cheap turns out to work fine, so I can make pretty big prints when I want.

eli griggs · Apr 17, 2024

ic-racer said:
Isn't a large format enlarger cheaper than a large format scanner and computer and RAID?
I guess I have never been in that situation where I couldn't print my large format images.

You need to factor in consumables in this equation, as just having an enlarge does not mean you'll have free prints at all.

thepond · Apr 19, 2024

Well at this stage you somewhat have a few options

1. get a 4x5 enlarger. You can get a dedicated one like i did this year. Or you can get the Intrepid enlarger kit and slap it onto your 4x5 camera plus the correct enlarging lens.

2. contact print and SCAN the contact print into your computer

3. what may be destructive enlarging using your current enlarger, by cutting the desired section of a 4x5 negative down to fit into your largest negative holder and enlarging ..

Donald Qualls · Apr 19, 2024

kingbuzzie said:
I can't FIT a large format enlarger in my darkroom.

I'm not familiar with the 606 you have -- how big is the baseboard and how tall the column? Most of the medium format enlargers I've seen are only a couple inches smaller than my Omega D2, mostly in column height -- because almost no one prints bigger than 16x20 regardless of film format, but a lot of medium format photographers used to print that big.

Sure, my D2 is a lot bigger than the dinky little enlarger I had in high school (had 127 carriers, but was essentially a 35 mm enlarger with a 11x14 baseboard) but...

kingbuzzie · Apr 19, 2024

Donald Qualls said:
I'm not familiar with the 606 you have -- how big is the baseboard and how tall the column? Most of the medium format enlargers I've seen are only a couple inches smaller than my Omega D2, mostly in column height -- because almost no one prints bigger than 16x20 regardless of film format, but a lot of medium format photographers used to print that big.

Sure, my D2 is a lot bigger than the dinky little enlarger I had in high school (had 127 carriers, but was essentially a 35 mm enlarger with a 11x14 baseboard) but...

Look it up, it's very small with a single vertical column (not tilted). It's a beautiful enlarger, darn near bulletproof as well.

https://live.staticflickr.com/8077/8306894657_856c6c2b42_b.jpg

Patrick Robert James · Apr 19, 2024

I had a 4x5 camera for 20 years before I had an enlarger for the negs. I just made contact prints, or like others, alt prints with the negs. I always figured I'd get an enlarger at some point so it made sense. If getting a 4x5 is something you want to do, then do it.

kingbuzzie · Apr 19, 2024

Patrick Robert James said:
I had a 4x5 camera for 20 years before I had an enlarger for the negs. I just made contact prints, or like others, alt prints with the negs. I always figured I'd get an enlarger at some point so it made sense. If getting a 4x5 is something you want to do, then do it.

Yes, I know. Its mostly... you know it's easy to drop a little money on an old 120 camera or 35mm. Some good 3rd party canon fd lenses one by one over the years. It adds up but it adds up so slowly. Especially for me because my favorite 35mm shooter is a canon t90 or canon t70. The t90 isn't a high dollar item and the t70 goes for pennies. I have spent a bit on a lomo 120 camera, because it's so rare and new. And a small fortune a mint fuji ga645. I keep wanting to experiment with the many of the 3d printed large format cameras. But then I gotta hunt down a cheap lens that that has the right focal length / shutter on ebay, hope it works.... blah blah. Then I have universal plastic tanks. So THEN I'll have to buy a paterson tank, the spendy adapter for large format etc. Then there's the film. But wait, my scanner only does up to 6x12. So off to find a used epson v600. It just adds up and up almost to the I'm locked in to this format because I'm just a hobbyist and have exactly everything I would need for 35mm and 120mm. I could sell some cameras I suppose to help with the cost.

BrianShaw · Apr 19, 2024

For processing, consider the Stearman Press systems. Affordable, easy to use, and effective.

Anyone content with using large format camera but can only scan the negatives due to their enlarger only being 120?

kingbuzzie

koraks

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Rick A

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Anyone content with using large format camera but can only scan the negatives due to their enlarger only being 120?

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